NFL COMBINE NOTES: UT's Finley wants ball in pros

Finley wants the ball

Jermichael Finley
expressed frustration at not getting the ball more last season. He caught 43 passes for 563 yards and two touchdowns.

Oklahoma was his best game — four catches for 149 yards.

"That game showed that I needed the ball more in my hands," Finley said. "And Texas couldn't do it, so I had to come to the next level and hopefully at the next level I can get the ball and the offensive coordinator can get me the ball some kind of way."

Asked why the UT coaches could not get him the ball more, Finley said, "I guess they didn't want to, that's what it was."

Homecoming in offing?

Tony Hills,
a Houston native from the
University of Texas
, already has had a brief conversation with the Texans and was introduced to some of their offensive coaches.

Hills is part of a strong group of offensive tackles at the combine and is seen by most analysts as a third-round pick. The Texans are looking for someone to groom as a replacement for veteran left tackle Ephraim Salaam.

"Any time you grow up in your city, it would be an ideal situation to play at home," Hills said. "But I just want to go to the team that wants me."

The draft shapes up as a good one for offensive tackles.

"It's the best group I've seen in 24 years collectively, and it was a good group before the juniors were added to it," said Kevin Colbert, the Steelers' director of football operations.